Liverpool FC Forum

[stmichael]

Gotta love Liverpool fans. Ince and Sturridge still play for different clubs, but are already the worst signings in the club's history according to many.

[eds]

Gotta love Liverpool fans. Ince and Sturridge still play for different clubs, but are already the worst signings in the club's history according to many.

Steady the f**k on there tiger! 

No one has written Ince or Sturridge off.

Many fans have a rather bad after taste in having paid over the odds recently for so called British "talent" and a lot would be questioning why these two signings are now on the horizon.

12 million for a guy that has 6 months left on his contract is f**king insanity.    Don't care how old the guys is either. Also he has done f**k all at the Chavs to deserve this price tag.

[Octsky]

not remotely excited about either sturridge or ince....sorry.....

ya heard from chelshti fans that sturridge is a selfish player.
not the type of player i hope we sign, sturridge looks like the english version of borrini.

[Reg]

GOOD AS DONE ??
++

Wednesday 19 December 2012  - The Independant

Daniel Sturridge’s time limit expires as he fails to match his own hype

Liverpool negotiating with Chelsea over Daniel Sturridge transfer, although £80,000-a-week 'demands' are dismissed
Chelsea are preparing the way for their January transfer spending by selling striker Daniel Sturridge to Liverpool for £12m.

The move will leave Rafael Benitez, who is keen to provide Fernando Torres with more support, with just one recognised centre-forward.

The interim manager confirmed last night he will discuss transfer targets with the club's hierarchy later this week and a move for Atletico Madrid's coveted goalscorer Radamel Falcao is highly likely. The departing Sturridge should sign for Liverpool in the first two weeks of the window next month. The 23-year-old has only started two Chelsea games all season.

His last appearance was in the 2-1 defeat at West Bromwich Albion a month ago, which was Roberto Di Matteo's last domestic game as Chelsea manager.

Benitez has not used Sturridge once since his arrival. At his press conference yesterday, the Spaniard admitted there were "conversations with different options" for Sturridge's future. The player's chosen destination is Anfield.

Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, is keen to add to his flimsy striking resources. Luis Suarez is the club's only fit senior centre-forward after Andy Carroll was loaned to West Ham United but not replaced, to Rodgers' frustration.

Summer signing Fabio Borini broke his foot in October and the responsibility given to Raheem Sterling, 18, has been greater than Rodgers had hoped through necessity – he has already started 17 games.

Two weeks ago, when Suarez was suspended, young midfielder Jonjo Shelvey started at centre-forward against West Ham.

Rodgers also hopes to sign Blackpool's 20-year-old winger Tom Ince in January, 16 months after Liverpool sold him to the Championship club.

If Sturridge goes, the pressure will increase on Chelsea to buy new strikers. They are almost as limited in their options as Liverpool, with only one fit senior forward, Torres, who is not anywhere near the form of Suarez.

Beyond the Spaniard, they only have Victor Moses, signed in the summer from Wigan Athletic, but he has mainly been used on the wing.

Benitez confirmed yesterday that after tonight's game with Leeds United in the Capital One Cup, but before the opening of the transfer window, he would have time to discuss transfer targets with the club hierarchy.

"We have time before January," Benitez said when asked when he would be planning the club's strategy for new signings. "We have just arrived home [from Japan] yesterday and then [we have] another game. Hopefully we have two or three days after this game, and then we have plenty of time. We are still working, the people in charge are working, and we will talk about names."

Benitez's chief ally will be Michael Emenalo, the technical director. "We can chat every day," he said. "So Michael is watching the training sessions and we talk about players, the team and what we need. I know what he likes, he knows what I like. It is just about agreeing."

Chelsea may well pursue Falcao, the third top-scorer La Liga with 14 goals already this season.

Benitez may also decide to recruit in central midfield. Chelsea's options are limited there too, with Oriol Romeu injured, John Obi Mikel suspended and Frank Lampard only just back from injury.

Another issue on Benitez's agenda is club confidentiality, with Chelsea set to remind staff to be more careful with their documentation after two sheets of paper detailing tactical plans for corners (below) were found in the dressing room of the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama following Chelsea's 1-0 defeat to Corinthians in the Club World Cup on Sunday.

Oscar, the Brazilian midfielder, was upset not to have played against Corinthians but Benitez insisted there are no problems with the 20-year-old.

"Oscar is a very good lad, a very good professional," he said. "His reaction has been very positive. We don't have an issue here."

Benitez also explained that he needs to start rotating the squad to cope with the demands of a congested fixture list. "The problem we had was Chelsea was playing with [the same] 11 players the majority of the games," he said. "We have to change this. Because you cannot carry on – especially now at Christmas time, with a busy schedule – playing the same players all of the time."

[JC_81]

Neither ince nor sturridge excite me either.  I don't think either improves our first XI.  They would add to our options of wide attackers and sturridge would back up Suarez centrally if he doesn't play, but I thought Sturridge had an issue with playing wide also.

Ince at 4 mil is an ok buy for the future perhaps but buying a player like Sturridge for 12 mil isn't great business imo.  Even 4 mil for a player who left for 250k 16 months ago is painful.

I think we need players who can make an impact this season and who maybe have a bit more experience in the 25-29 age bracket to help our youngsters. The squad needs numbers yes, but first and foremost we must improves our best XI and imo these players don't do that.

[SouthCoastShankly]

not remotely excited about either sturridge or ince....sorry.....

ya heard from chelshti fans that sturridge is a selfish player.
not the type of player i hope we sign, sturridge looks like the english version of borrini.

Eh, that is exactly the type of player we want. Instead of trying to walk it into the net and over pass, someone will be inclined take a shot when it presents itself.

[SouthCoastShankly]

Neither ince nor sturridge excite me either.  I don't think either improves our first XI.  They would add to our options of wide attackers and sturridge would back up Suarez centrally if he doesn't play, but I thought Sturridge had an issue with playing wide also.

Ince at 4 mil is an ok buy for the future perhaps but buying a player like Sturridge for 12 mil isn't great business imo.  Even 4 mil for a player who left for 250k 16 months ago is painful.

I think we need players who can make an impact this season and who maybe have a bit more experience in the 25-29 age bracket to help our youngsters. The squad needs numbers yes, but first and foremost we must improves our best XI and imo these players don't do that.

I completely disagree, I expect Sturridge to start as the central striker from day 1, we need a direct central striker who will add some clinical finishing. Suarez is not that player, he is a genius but not clinical.

Sturridge up top, Suarez and another playing off him as a three man forward line.

I suspect either -

                           Sturridge
Sterling                                             Suarez

or

                           Sturridge
Ince                                             Suarez

Alternatively Suarez may be played in the hole behind Sturridge, something like

                           Sturridge

Sterling                 Suarez                   Gerrard

[stmichael]

Where has this idea that Sturridge only has 6 months left on his contract come from? I read that his contract was ending in 2013 initially but Chelsea had the option to sign a 1 year extension which they did.

[redno7]

I completely disagree, I expect Sturridge to start as the central striker from day 1, we need a direct central striker who will add some clinical finishing. Suarez is not that player, he is a genius but not clinical.

Sturridge up top, Suarez and another playing off him as a three man forward line.

I suspect either -

                           Sturridge
Sterling                                             Suarez

or

                           Sturridge
Ince                                             Suarez

Alternatively Suarez may be played in the hole behind Sturridge, something like

                           Sturridge

Sterling                 Suarez                   Gerrard

steady on mate your talking sense, lets go back a bit and sl@g off players who don't even play for us yet, then we'll try get BR fired.

Joking aside I think thats a fair assumption too, sturridge up top leading the line. Given the chance he could do one of two things...   

A. be an instant hit, score a bag full of our 20+ shots on target per game, or...
2. add a few more 'near misses' onto the increasing tally.

Hope he comes to be honest and I hope he starts bagging them left right and fecking centre, just to shut the doubting 'wrote him off already' muppets up.

[heimdall]

I'd be happy enough with Sturridge and Ince, they'd provide firepower and take the pressure off the other players. If we could start converting just 10% more of the chances we create then we'd start rocketing up the table.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

I'd be happy enough with Sturridge and Ince, they'd provide firepower and take the pressure off the other players. If we could start converting just 10% more of the chances we create then we'd start rocketing up the table.

ince is 20, he`s even younger than borini so it`s a bit much to expect him to start ripping up tree`s in the top flight against good defenders. sturridge could go either way, when he was on loan at bolton i was a big fan of his and wanted us to sign him but he has definately gone backwards since then, he looks disinterested half the time these days, to me he looks like someone who has fallen out of love with the game.
maybe he`s fed up with the politics at chelsea and just needs to go somewhere else or maybe he just hasnt kicked on and developed as a player, who knows?
what i do know is if these two signings dont make much of an impact then i think people will start to question rodgers judgement in the transfer market, he spent over £30m in the summer and now allens form has tanked there hasnt been much to show for that outlay and if the rumours are true and ince and sturridge arrive thats another £20m.
after a manager has spent £50m you`d expect to start to see some results from that type of expenditure.

[Ola Mr Benitez]

after a manager has spent £50m you`d expect to start to see some results from that type of expenditure.[/quote]

They havent even signed yet, never mind played and you have obviously made up your mind that they are going to fail.  What if Sturridge comes in January and scores 10 goals in the remaiing leagure games of the season?  Would you be a bit happier with the £50m (another guess) expenditure.

Lets trt and deal with facts, rather than writing players off that have not yet even had a medical????!!!!!

[RedHands]

I like Sturridge but not for 12m. I think 8m is about right.

[parchpea]

Ince is potential and Sturridge is rejection so I pray the latter is paper talk as we dont
need a player moved on by both Man City and Chelsea.

If Sturridge is worth £12 - £15m (I dont hink think he is but that will be the price) then
I would rather us take a punt on a couple of players from Europe or South America who
will play their hearts out for a fraction of the wage and you double your chances of buying
a succesful player.

There must be tons of good players just waiting to be snapped up and you wonder sometimes
if we are a bit lazy or simply do not have the staffing levels to pick out these lads or
furthermore the resource to jet around the world and get the deals tied up.

Should we have anywhere near £20m to spend I would be pretty surprised anyway to be
honest.

[bunglemark2]

Allegedly he'll have 40m. Would love to see a South American kid or two, just like whiskey nose got Chicarito.